Watchdog bites Eidos

The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has told off Eidos over its adverts for the shoot-em-up game, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men.

Eidos’s poster and magazine ads showed two men and a woman. The woman was seated in the foreground; she was gagged and had a tear-stained face. Her head was being held back by one of the men who stood behind her pulling her hair; he wore surgical gloves and was speaking on a mobile phone. He had a plaster across his nose, which appeared broken, and his face was marked with a deep scar.

The TV ad, which was cleared by Clearcast with a post 9pm restriction, showed scenes involving the two central characters from the game. The watchdog received 26 complaints about the campaign. The complaints said that it had images that condoned violence, particularly toward women. Others felt that the poster ad was distressing and unsuitable for children to see.

Eidos said the game was a graphic 18-rated action thriller following two mercenaries, Kane and Lynch, on a mission to recapture a kidnapped family.